Ahmed Zewail: A force for Egyptian science Mostafa A. El-Sayeda,1
Undoubtedly, Dr. Ahmed Zewail, who passed away on August 2, 2016, had a strong, positive impact on science in the Middle East and in the West. I knew Zewail as one of his mentors and close friends. Zewail wanted to come from Egypt (Alexandria University) to get his PhD in my group at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Unfortunately, I was away on sabbatical and thus did not see his letter of interest, and my secretary answered him, advising him to apply for admission to get his PhD at UCLA first and then to come talk to me when I returned from overseas. He came to the United States and received his PhD working with the late Professor Robin Hochstrasser at the University of Pennsylvania and was doing research in chemical physics, which was very close to my own research at that time. We became very close friends, and he always used me as a sounding board during the successful rise of his academic career. He was very bright, highly motivated, and very hard-working, and he had an excellent sense of humor. Because Hochstrasser and I overlapped greatly in our scientific research interests for a long period, it was natural that Zewail and I frequently attended the same national and international meetings. We often shared accommodations, discussing Egyptian politics and exchanging Egyptian jokes. I wrote letters of recommendation for Zewail when he was searching for a postdoctoral position (he joined the group of my good friend Professor Charles Harris at the University of California, Berkeley) as well as when he was applying for a faculty position at the California Institute of Technology (Cal Tech). Because he taught at Cal Tech in Pasadena and I was then teaching at UCLA, we frequently got together for dinner at a Middle Eastern restaurant located midway between the two institutions. We exchanged findings in our scientific research, discussed the political picture in Egypt, and updated each other on our growing family members. It was always fun to meet Zewail at international and national meetings. We would talk about science, but also about what was happening in Egypt. The differences between research in Egypt and the United States were always an important topic. It was clear that
Ahmed Zewail. Courtesy of the Archives, California Institute of Technology.
the lack of government funding of research in Egypt was a large factor. It was President Sadat who encouraged Egyptian-born researchers living abroad to return to Egypt to visit their families and to be allowed to return to their US or European place of work. Zewail and I were among the many US and European researchers to make use of President Sadat’s open policy to visit and interact with Egyptians in research institutes and universities. Egyptian researchers became active in organizing international meetings held in Egypt discussing modern research topics. Zewail, Farouk El Baz, other Egyptian-born scientists, and I were on a committee that advised the Egyptian government to make funds available for Egyptians who proposed to do research or to visit research-active universities and centers abroad for several months at a time to enhance their own research interests. We became advisors to the new Ministry of Research to assist in encouraging the many good researchers in Egypt to apply to go abroad or to receive funds for their own research. This program is still in operation, covering proposals involving joint research between Egyptian and American scientists.
a Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332 Author contributions: M.A.E.-S. wrote the paper. The author declares no conflict of interest. 1 Email: [email protected].
www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1700161114
PNAS | February 21, 2017 | vol. 114 | no. 8 | 1743–1744
RETROSPECTIVE
RETROSPECTIVE
Because I was the editor of the Journal of Physical Chemistry for a good number of years, I received the Nobel Prize nomination forms every year. Zewail’s work was appreciated by all of us in the field of chemical physics. I was frequently impressed with his studies of ultrafast processes and other exciting work and I had the honor to nominate him for the Nobel Prize. As an editor and researcher active in the field, I was invited by the Nobel Committee to travel to Sweden and discuss with them the importance of Zewail’s ultrafast research results. A couple of years after my visit to Sweden, Zewail received the Nobel Prize, and I was honored to be invited by the Nobel Committee to share with him and his delightful family the excitement of receiving the prize. Zewail and I frequently talked about the fact that getting the prize would help him assist in improving Egyptian government research funding and plans to build up an active research institute. Zewail found receiving the prize to be an opportunity to effectively assist in accelerating the research output of the Egyptian scientists. After several meetings with government officials, he realized that he had to build a new university with funds raised from the Egyptian people themselves. It was then most impressive to see how fast and how much he was able to raise from the generous Egyptian people to build a technical university to which he would be able to attract first-rate, research-oriented young Egyptians who received their degrees from highly technical schools in
1744 | www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1700161114
Europe and in the United States. His dream was to have an undergraduate university in addition to the strong graduate institute with a strong research output. With funds raised from the Egyptian people and government, Zewail was able to attract an excellent group of young research-active scientists. He added undergraduate students and was able to attract bright young students. The first class will graduate next year. The young faculty are doing excellent research already and some have graduate students. The Zewail City of Science and Technology has plans to offer expert opinions on new future developments important to Egypt’s industrial and economic growth. Zewail undoubtedly had the most influential impact on Middle Eastern technical advancements in the past century. His research had great impact on the field of ultrafast processes. He was creative, gave excellent presentations, and wrote influential articles and books. He spoke in the West, in the East, in the North, and in the South. He had four children, two successful daughters (one has a PhD in science and the other is a medical doctor) and two delightful young sons with a bright future ahead of them. Zewail arranged to be buried near the Zewail City for Science and Technology. He was hoping to keep reminding the Egyptian people of the importance of scientific research so that Egypt can return to its ancient technical and scientific glory, as it was during the time of the ancient Egyptians.
El-Sayed
Undoubtedly, Dr. Ahmed Zewail, who passed away on August 2, 2016, had a strong, positive impact on science in the Middle East and in the West. I knew Zewail as one of his mentors and close friends. Zewail wanted to come from Egypt (Alexandria University) to get his PhD in my group at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Unfortunately, I was away on sabbatical and thus did not see his letter of interest, and my secretary answered him, advising him to apply for admission to get his PhD at UCLA first and then to come talk to me when I returned from overseas. He came to the United States and received his PhD working with the late Professor Robin Hochstrasser at the University of Pennsylvania and was doing research in chemical physics, which was very close to my own research at that time. We became very close friends, and he always used me as a sounding board during the successful rise of his academic career. He was very bright, highly motivated, and very hard-working, and he had an excellent sense of humor. Because Hochstrasser and I overlapped greatly in our scientific research interests for a long period, it was natural that Zewail and I frequently attended the same national and international meetings. We often shared accommodations, discussing Egyptian politics and exchanging Egyptian jokes. I wrote letters of recommendation for Zewail when he was searching for a postdoctoral position (he joined the group of my good friend Professor Charles Harris at the University of California, Berkeley) as well as when he was applying for a faculty position at the California Institute of Technology (Cal Tech). Because he taught at Cal Tech in Pasadena and I was then teaching at UCLA, we frequently got together for dinner at a Middle Eastern restaurant located midway between the two institutions. We exchanged findings in our scientific research, discussed the political picture in Egypt, and updated each other on our growing family members. It was always fun to meet Zewail at international and national meetings. We would talk about science, but also about what was happening in Egypt. The differences between research in Egypt and the United States were always an important topic. It was clear that
Ahmed Zewail. Courtesy of the Archives, California Institute of Technology.
the lack of government funding of research in Egypt was a large factor. It was President Sadat who encouraged Egyptian-born researchers living abroad to return to Egypt to visit their families and to be allowed to return to their US or European place of work. Zewail and I were among the many US and European researchers to make use of President Sadat’s open policy to visit and interact with Egyptians in research institutes and universities. Egyptian researchers became active in organizing international meetings held in Egypt discussing modern research topics. Zewail, Farouk El Baz, other Egyptian-born scientists, and I were on a committee that advised the Egyptian government to make funds available for Egyptians who proposed to do research or to visit research-active universities and centers abroad for several months at a time to enhance their own research interests. We became advisors to the new Ministry of Research to assist in encouraging the many good researchers in Egypt to apply to go abroad or to receive funds for their own research. This program is still in operation, covering proposals involving joint research between Egyptian and American scientists.
a Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332 Author contributions: M.A.E.-S. wrote the paper. The author declares no conflict of interest. 1 Email: [email protected].
www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1700161114
PNAS | February 21, 2017 | vol. 114 | no. 8 | 1743–1744
RETROSPECTIVE
RETROSPECTIVE
Because I was the editor of the Journal of Physical Chemistry for a good number of years, I received the Nobel Prize nomination forms every year. Zewail’s work was appreciated by all of us in the field of chemical physics. I was frequently impressed with his studies of ultrafast processes and other exciting work and I had the honor to nominate him for the Nobel Prize. As an editor and researcher active in the field, I was invited by the Nobel Committee to travel to Sweden and discuss with them the importance of Zewail’s ultrafast research results. A couple of years after my visit to Sweden, Zewail received the Nobel Prize, and I was honored to be invited by the Nobel Committee to share with him and his delightful family the excitement of receiving the prize. Zewail and I frequently talked about the fact that getting the prize would help him assist in improving Egyptian government research funding and plans to build up an active research institute. Zewail found receiving the prize to be an opportunity to effectively assist in accelerating the research output of the Egyptian scientists. After several meetings with government officials, he realized that he had to build a new university with funds raised from the Egyptian people themselves. It was then most impressive to see how fast and how much he was able to raise from the generous Egyptian people to build a technical university to which he would be able to attract first-rate, research-oriented young Egyptians who received their degrees from highly technical schools in
1744 | www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1700161114
Europe and in the United States. His dream was to have an undergraduate university in addition to the strong graduate institute with a strong research output. With funds raised from the Egyptian people and government, Zewail was able to attract an excellent group of young research-active scientists. He added undergraduate students and was able to attract bright young students. The first class will graduate next year. The young faculty are doing excellent research already and some have graduate students. The Zewail City of Science and Technology has plans to offer expert opinions on new future developments important to Egypt’s industrial and economic growth. Zewail undoubtedly had the most influential impact on Middle Eastern technical advancements in the past century. His research had great impact on the field of ultrafast processes. He was creative, gave excellent presentations, and wrote influential articles and books. He spoke in the West, in the East, in the North, and in the South. He had four children, two successful daughters (one has a PhD in science and the other is a medical doctor) and two delightful young sons with a bright future ahead of them. Zewail arranged to be buried near the Zewail City for Science and Technology. He was hoping to keep reminding the Egyptian people of the importance of scientific research so that Egypt can return to its ancient technical and scientific glory, as it was during the time of the ancient Egyptians.
El-Sayed
